Japan Nikkei falls 0.13% on profit taking

Japan stock market finished session slightly lower on Monday, 13 May 2024, as investors pocketed some recent gains on following the mixed cues from Wall Street cues on Friday and rise in Japanese long-term interest rates, with investor focused on shares in corporate earnings announcement.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average index fell by 49.65 points, or 0.13%, to finish at 38,179.46. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 4.13 points, 0.15%, to 2,724.08.

Among individual stocks, Honda was up 3.6% at 1,799 yen, after the carmaker logged a record annual profit and announced a major share buyback. The company said net profit for the year to March soared 70% to $7.1 billion, up 20.8% from the previous year. For the year to March 2025, the company expects net profit to fall 9.7%, as rising costs and changes to forex rates may put pressure on company results going forward.

Olympus soared 6.42% to 2,436 yen after it announced a 31% jump in its forecast of operating profit for the current year to March 2025.

Chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron was up 0.94% at 35,330 yen, after it forecast a rise in net profit for the current fiscal year. Japanese chip tool maker expects sales to grow 20% to 2.2 trillion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2025, as global chip makers continue to invest in advanced technology on the back of growing demand for generative artificial intelligence applications. Operating profit is expected to increase by 27.6% to 582 billion yen.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The M2 money stock in Japan was up 2.2% on year at 1,260.1 trillion yen in April, unchanged from the March reading, the Bank of Japan said on Monday. The M3 money stock rose an annual 1.6% to 1,612.8 trillion yen, slowing from 1.8% in the previous month. The L money stock was up 1.8% on year at 2,144.4 trillion yen, slowing from 2.2% a month earlier.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen was little changed against greenback on Monday. The yen was changing hands at 155.74 per dollar in late trade on Monday, compared with 155.88 yen on Friday.

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